Fireplace Surround

Must be the year to upgrade fireplace mantels, etc. Anyhow, here is my contribution. One of the pictures contains something I did about 10 years ago which was an upgrade to what was there – basically just the brick. I also included a few pictures of the black walnut inserts. I did the inserts as raised panel and finished them to a french polish.

The surround is red oak and black walnut. The oak is finished with a few coats of garnet shellac. I think the garnet shellac gives new wood a bit of an aged and warmer appearance. Plus it is so darned easy to work with. I don’t do stain well at all.

The walnut is finished with 2 coats of boiled linseed oil (BLO) then left to cure for about a week. I then started the french polish process. In one of the pictures I put a quarter next to the piece of wood to show the reflection.

There were a number of design changes from the original plan – one of which was adding the lights. I had to figure out how to blend the lights into the design. I didn’t want the lights to look like they were an afterthought – which they were. I used paper to develop a few designs and put them up for a night to see how I liked it. I settled on the rectangle outlined with the walnut version (obviously).

The wall on the right is totally out of square which I took as an opportunity to get a new plane (Thank you Lee Valley). Believe me, planing a piece of wood to fit an out of square wall is totally easier than trying to cut something on the tablesaw.

The whole mantel slides out to provide access to the wiring if needed. The bumpout on the right serves as a cabinet to hold the components.